What to Teach When Homeschooling Fourth Grade

Fourth grade builds on knowledge and skills gained in third grade while exposing children to increasingly more complex topics. Here’s a simple guide for what to cover and develop in fourth grade:

What to Teach When Homeschooling Fourth Grade

Fourth Grade Language Arts

Fourth graders work on building their knowledge of grammar and usage concepts, using correct punctuation, and spelling words on a fourth-grade level. By the end of this year, your child should be able to use pronouns, possessive nouns, prepositions and prepositional phrases appropriately, recognize and correct fragments and run-on sentences, separate words into syllables, recognize root words, and give an oral report or tell a story. For reading, your child should be able to read fourth-grade level books silently and aloud, and use phonics skills and context clues to decode unfamiliar words.

Fourth Grade Writing

Fourth grade writing typically focuses on the improvement of writing skills, including stories that place events in a logical order and informative written passages that demonstrate the ability to reason and use grammar rules in writing. By the end of fourth grade, your child should be able to use basic writing rules (capitalization, tense, punctuation, etc.) to write sentences, short stories, journal entries, and poems. During the fourth grade, your child should also use research tools, including digital resources, to write reports and stories, and complete projects.

Fourth Grade Math

By the end of fourth grade, your child should be able to apply grade-level appropriate problem-solving skills to solving word problems, use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to solve math problems, including those with multiple digits, and understand and use factors for numbers up to 100. In this year, your child should also work with geometric measurement, add and subtract fractions and mixed numbers that have the same denominator, measure weight, volume, length, and temperature, and tell time to the second.

Fourth Grade History

In fourth grade, your child should explore state history, including origins and early communities and relate state history to historical facts about the U.S. and the world. Fourth graders should also explore people who have contributed to state and local history and cover local and state natural resources.

Fourth Grade Science

Fourth grade science builds on life science, physical science, and earth science topics covered in second grade. Among the topics fourth graders study are plants and food production, food chains and webs, and the role of plants and animals in the ecosystem. Fourth grade science should also cover weather, climate, oceans and currents.

Fourth Grade Health

By the end of fourth grade, your child should understand the effects of exercise, rest, and nutrition on the body. Your child should recognize harmful substances and how they affect health and relate food and drinks to the food groups.

Fourth Grade Art

Fourth graders continue creating and exploring art using different mediums and tools.

They may also view art, learn about famous artists, and observe art in its various forms.

For more details on what to teach when you homeschool fourth grade and the other 13 grades, check out our Year-by-Year Teaching Guide for Homeschoolers: